There is a growing concern with the long term security of supply of energy at reasonable prices in a context of sustainable social and economic development. Conversion of heavy aromatic feedstock to lighter one suitable to run an engine motor becomes a major focus. This heavy stock either derived from petroleum feedstock or from lignocellulosic biomass converted into lighter products under a wide range of very high pressures and fairly high temperatures, in the presence of hydrogen and special catalysts. When the feedstock has a high paraffinic content, the primary function of hydrogen is to prevent the formation of polycyclic aromatic compounds. The process usually followed cracking or hydrotreating/hydrocracking. Hydrotreating requires large volumes of hydrogen which impairs the process economics. Another important role of hydrogen in the hydro-cracking process is to reduce tar formation and prevent buildup of coke on the catalyst. Hydrogenation also serves to convert sulfur and nitrogen compounds present in the feedstock to hydrogen sulfide and ammonia. Most of the hydro-cracking unit has reliability problems with the reciprocating hydrogen make up and recycle compressors due to its high pressure operation. Different portion and accessories in a Hydrocracker Unit suffered from hot sulphur corrosion and a weld repair became necessary to avoid potential collapse of the internal gasket seating face and the subsequent ingress of high-pressure hydrogen into a low-pressure region.
Previous works describe the cracking process mostly in presence of hydrogen to result a high pressure system. U.S. Pat. No. 7,132,042 describes a process for preparing dewaxed fuel and lubricant base stocks by (a) producing a synthesis gas from natural gas, (b) reacting the H2 and CO in the gas in the presence of a cobalt Fischer-Tropsch catalyst, at reaction conditions effective to synthesize a waxy hydrocarbon feed boiling in the fuel and lubricant oil ranges, which hydrodewaxed in a first stage to produce a dewaxed fuel and a partially dewaxed lubricant fraction. The partially dewaxed lubricant fraction is separated into heavy and lower boiling fractions. U.S. Pat. No. 7,163,963 is generally related to the field of Fischer-Tropsch catalysts. In particular, the present invention is related to a Fischer-Tropsch catalyst and method of making same. Here also hydrogen is a necessity and pressure requirement is high. A method for producing a hydrogen-rich syngas is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,160,534. According to this method, a CO-containing syngas contacts a platinum-free ruthenium-cobalt water gas shift (“WGS”) catalyst, in the presence of water and preferably at a temperature of less than about 450° C., to produce a hydrogen-rich syngas. It disclosed a platinum-free ruthenium-cobalt water gas shift catalyst formulated from: a) Ru, its oxides or mixtures thereof; b) Co, Mo, their oxides or mixtures thereof; and c) at least one of Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs, Ti, Zr, Cr, Fe, La, Ce, Eu, their oxides, supported on a carrier, such as any one member or a combination of alumina, zirconia, titania, ceria, magnesia, lanthania, niobia, zeolite, perovskite, silica clay and iron oxide. U.S. Pat. No. 7,150,866 relates to a catalyst and a process for the autothermal, catalytic steam reforming of hydrocarbons using the catalyst. The multilayer catalyst in this process is used for producing hydrogen-containing fuel gases in reformer systems, preferably for fuel cells. In U.S. patent U.S. patent a CO-selective catalyst comprises a catalytic material, wherein the catalytic material is selected from the group consisting of Pt, Pd, Rh, Ir, Os, Ru, Ta, Zr, Y, Ce, Ni, Cu, and oxides. The method for forming the CO selective catalyst comprises combining a catalytic material and a support. A method of making degraded aromatics or surfactants from lignin is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,207,808 by reducing lignin in the presence of a metal oxide or iron based catalyst in an organic hydrogen donor solvent. To produce lignin phenol, one or a combination of several reactions such as alkoxylation, alkylation, sulfonation, sulfation, alkoxysulfation, and sulfomethylation is utilized here. Another similar method of making surfactants from lignin is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,100,385. U.S. Pat. No. 5,807,952 describes a process for the production of low molecular weight phenolic compounds from lignins through the pyrolysis of the lignins in the presence of a strong base. In a preferred embodiment, potassium hydroxide is present in trace amount and the pyrolysis temperature is 400° C. to 600° C. at atmospheric pressure and the time period for substantial completion of the reaction is from about 1-3 minutes. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,647,704 hydrocracking of lignin in the presence of a supported tungsten-nickel catalyst on mildly acidic supports affords phenolic compounds in higher yield and with greater selectivity. Lewis acid such as ferrous chloride, increased yields of both cresols and C6-C9 phenolics are obtained. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,420,644 carbonaceous feed material in particulate form is mixed with a process-derived slurrying oil and fed into an ebullated catalyst bed hydrocracking reactor. Reaction conditions are maintained at 650° F. to 850° F. temperature, 500-2500 psig hydrogen partial pressure and space velocity of 1.0-10 wt. lignin/hr/wt catalyst. Major yield of phenol and benzene is the central point of this process.